


Now that's an introduction

by emmadilla



Series: 30 Day OTP Challenge [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, F/M, First Meetings, No Smut, introductions, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 17:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17451293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmadilla/pseuds/emmadilla
Summary: The first time Nora touches down in Goodneighbor, the mayor flirts with her the only real way he knows how ... by stabbing someone.





	Now that's an introduction

**Author's Note:**

> 30 Day OTP Challenge
> 
> Day 3: First Meeting

Nora shouldered open the gate to Goodneighbor, eager to get in, make some sales, and maybe drink a beer or two before she collapsed in a bed for the night. She hadn’t felt like trekking all the way back to Diamond City anyway, and when she’d found this settlement, it was almost serendipitous. So much so, she’d gone back to that super mutant compound to pick up some more things to sell, willing to carry the heavier load a shorter distance and make more caps.

 

Unfortunately, her path was blocked - both metaphorically and physically - by a rough looking man who stood at the entrance, smoking a cigarette.

 

He looked up as she entered, drawing one last hit before he flicked the butt away, uncaring of where it landed. Straightening up from where he’d been leaning against the low wall, a wicked smile crawling up his face. Nora tamped down the urge to scratch it right off his face, but when he spoke, she found it harder to resist that temptation. “Hold up,” he growled, his voice grating and rough. “First time in Goodneighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance.”

 

Exhausted and sweaty, she rolled her eyes. “Unless it’s ‘keep dumb assholes away from me’ insurance, I’m not interested.”

 

He had the audacity to chuckle as he entreated her, “Now don’t be like that, I think you’re going to like what I have on offer. You hand over everything you got in them pockets, or ‘accidents’ start happenin’ to ya. Big, bloody ‘accidents’.”

 

Charming. Nora huffed and was about to tell him to shove off, when a deep, gravelly voice spoke up from a nearby alley. “Whoa, whoa. Time out.” The man who walked in view had Nora’s eyes bugged, and the fact that he was a ghoul was honestly the last thing she noticed. Between the red coat and the tricorn hat and the freaking American flag sash that was tied around him, it was hard to find just one thing to focus on at a time. The way he swaggered toward them, though … that definitely caught her eye. Confident and cocky, yet cool and smooth. Oh, he was dangerous, alright, and that did nothing to deter Nora in any way.

 

If anything, she wanted him more.

 

Shaking her head slightly, she wondered, _Where did that come from?_

 

She didn’t get a chance to muse on it too long, as he approached the ruffian who was holding her up, shooting her a grin and a wink before he continued, “Someone steps through the gate the first time, they’re a guest. You lay off that extortion crap.”

 

Scowling, the man shot back, “What d’you care? She ain’t one of us.”

 

“No love for your mayor, Finn? I said let her go.”

 

Finn growled. “You’re soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there’ll be a new mayor.”

 

And there it was. That dangerous glint in his black eyes, the way he shifted his posture ever so slightly as he stepped toward Finn. Nora wouldn’t want to be on the other end, and she had a feeling Finn wouldn’t, either, not if he truly knew what beast he’d awakened. Hancock’s voice, however, never wavered or faltered as he said, “C’mon, man, this is me we’re talking about. Let me tell you something …”

 

Finn didn’t get a second chance to listen, however, as Hancock surreptitiously slipped a knife out of the back of his coat as he leaned forward, suddenly grabbing Finn by the shoulder and plunging it into his gut twice with practiced, measured ease before he let him drop to the street unceremoniously, gasping and twitching as he bled out. Nora had jumped at the first strike, startled, eyes wide at the violence right in front of her. She wondered if she’d ever get used to it, get used to the blood and the gore and the constant death shoved in her face. This was so far removed from her life before, when she was just a lawyer, just a soldier’s wife, just another cog in the machine of society. She could blend in effortlessly, and she’d never had the motivation to stand out before. Here, though, blending in could be dangerous. If you really wanted to survive, you had to stand out, make a statement, and make it in such a way that other people didn’t want to mess with you.

 

And Hancock … nobody wanted to mess with him. Nobody smart, anyway, that much was crystal clear.

 

Maybe that was the reason she found herself drawn to the ghoul mayor. As he wiped the blood off his blade with the edge of his coat, he murmured to the dying man, “Now why’d you have to go and say that, huh? Breaking my heart over here.” Turning toward her, he shot her a toothy, smarmy grin, his eyes quickly glancing over her before he asked, “You alright, sister?”

 

Nora swallowed, realising that her mouth had been hanging open, and nodded. “I’m fine,” she said, a little too quickly. Clearing her throat a little, she added, “Thanks for taking care of him.

 

“Good. Now don’t let this incident taint your view of our little community, here. Goodneighbor’s of the people, for the people, you feel me? Everyone’s welcome.”

 

_Everyone’s welcome, huh? I could maybe get used to this. So long as he hangs around_. “Yeah, I feel you.”

 

“Good. You stay cool, and you’ll be a part of the neighbourhood … so long as you remember who’s in charge.”

 

That last sentence could have been threatening, could have been laced with intrigue and danger, twisted into a clear message to _behave_ … but it wasn’t. Not that Nora could tell, at least. Instead, as he turned on his heel to leave, he gave her a wink, leaving her to stand there in the entrance with a dead body. And yet, somehow, she was more charmed than she had any right to be. _Now that’s an introduction_.

 

——————

 

Hancock had barely looked up from the conversation he’d been having with Fahr, but a flash of an uncharacteristic bright blue had him glancing toward the visitor, and once he’d had an eyeful, he found he couldn’t look away. Her hair was disheveled and her smooth skin was smudged with dirt, her glasses slightly askew. She was breathing a little heavier, no doubt weighed down by whatever it was she was hauling. A scavver? No, couldn’t be. Scavver’s typically weren’t dumb enough to wander around alone, and they definitely didn’t wear Vaultsuits. Vaultsuits that clung to their body, accentuating every curve so deliciously, he already wanted to run his tongue over them.

 

He frowned, however, when he saw Finn start to hassle her. He was already on thin ice with him, and he was skirting close to that proverbial straw. He already didn’t like extortion rackets that much, not against his own people, but to hit up visitors fresh into Goodneighbor? That was just too far. Goodneighbor was a unique settlement, for sure, but it wasn’t an island unto itself. Scare away visitors, they could kiss their economy goodbye. Short-sightedness would get them nowhere, but small minded criminals couldn’t always comprehend the big picture.

 

Which was precisely why he was in charge. And _stayed_ in charge.

 

Sauntering over to them, he played it cool as he smoothed things over, or attempted to, at least. As good as Finn was in repelling super mutants and dealing with raiders and ferals, he was riding Hancock’s last good nerve, and that was not a good thing. He gave him a chance, one last chance, but Finn never had been known for his smarts.

 

Too bad. He’d miss Finn. Not that much, though.

 

After he cleaned off his knife and got another look at the Vaultie, this time up close, he hoped she wasn’t put off by the show of dominance. It was just the way of life out here in the wasteland, dog eat dog and all that, and if you got your hackles up and didn’t follow through, the bums would walk all over ya. To his surprise, instead of being revulsed, if anything she looked curious, her eyes wide but non-judging, honing in on him with a laser focus so hot he could almost feel it burning. _Vaultie up for a little fun, maybe?_ First things first, though, he had to make sure she felt welcome and safe in his little town, and what he said seemed to knock her out of the daze she’d been in since he’d pulled the knife. The way her tongue darted out to lick her lips, oh yeah, she was his. Like a good fisherman, he’d let her settle in before he hooked her, but it was only a matter of time.

 

As he turned around and made his way back to Fahr, he grinned. _Nailed it_.


End file.
